NFL Removes Replacement Official From Saints-Panthers Game

September 16, 2012

The NFL pulled side judge Brian Stropolo from today’s Saints-Panthers game after the league discovered he “proudly displayed his Saints colors on his Facebook page.” A photo of Stropolo on the page shows him outside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome before a preseason game last month. Stropolo had been “identified clearly as a very capable side judge as a replacement official” because he worked the season-opening Cowboys-Giants game, but in “this particular instance, the NFL obviously fell asleep (“Sunday NFL Countdown,” ESPN, 9/16).

Meanwhile, NFL coaches were sent a memo last week by the league warning them if they “try to bully our referees, you’re going to be fined and possibly your organization and your owner will be fined as well.” The move comes after 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh “was seen working the officials quite a bit last week in Green Bay” (“Fox NFL Sunday,” Fox, 9/16).